1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to managing and administering a voice server through a voice and/or telephony interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice-based applications have become increasingly popular as a means to access data and applications. Voice-based applications are those that allow a user to select menu items or enter data into entry fields using a conventional telephone, a wireless telephone, or another audio interface. Advances in the interfaces between the digital data domain and the voice domain have led to increased use of voice-based technology for accessing traditional personal and business applications. In consequence, more often than not, users can interact with systems through traditional voice communications and/or a telephone keypad.
Typically, voice-based services are implemented using one or more distributed computers or servers executing appropriate software, which collectively can be referred to as a “voice server”. A voice server can provide functionality such as a telephony platform connector for interfacing with a telecommunications network, speech processing resources for performing text-to-speech and speech recognition, development tools, and/or other interfaces which allow the voice server to interact with one or more application programs and control systems.
Presently, system management and administration in a voice server environment follows the traditional model of command-line or console-based control. That is, a system administrator interacts with the voice server via a conventional computer terminal, having a keyboard and display, which is communicatively linked to the voice server. The administration terminal frequently is located “on-premises” with the voice server. The system administrator can receive notifications and monitor the voice server by viewing messages on the administration terminal display. The system administrator can provide instructions, queries, or other commands to the voice server by entering the appropriate information into a command line interface of the administration terminal display using the administrative terminal keyboard.
Through the administration terminal, the system administrator can interact with the voice server to perform administrative, managerial, and maintenance functions. Legacy software components, for example components written in the C programming language, typically are managed through Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) via the administration terminal.
Other systems have come to use a resource management system for handling communications between the administration terminal and the voice server. For example, within a Java environment, the resource management system can be a Java Management Extension (JMX) enabled system for managing Java components. JMX is defined in the document entitled Java Management Extensions Instrumentation and Agent Specification, v1.1 (March 2002), published by Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif. The JMX specification, which is incorporated herein by reference, defines an architecture, design patterns, application programming interfaces (APIs), and services for application and network management using the Java programming language. The JMX specification is a set of specifications and development tools for managing Java environments and building management solutions.
Conventional console-based administrative terminals lack an interface which exploits the technology which the voice server was designed to provide to users. In consequence, conventional voice servers lack a more natural interface through which the voice server can be managed, administered, and/or maintained by a system administrator.